


Falling Head Over Heels

by Moniposa



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Mental Health Issues, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-01
Updated: 2015-07-03
Packaged: 2018-04-07 04:31:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4249383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moniposa/pseuds/Moniposa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When AJ Lee is pushed over the edge and shoves CM Punk off of the turnbuckle and through a table, she begins to doubt the feelings she has towards him. The way he constantly ignores her and diminishes her accomplishments - she feels like he treats her worse than Daniel Bryan did. Punk knows that isn't true; will he be able to prove her wrong? Based off of the 2/7/2012 episode of RAW.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Screw Up Once, Shame On You

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first fic for this pairing (I love these two so much omg), and I plan on writing another one with a much tighter plot and better grasp on the personalities of the characters. This was more self-indulgent than anything lol. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!

    There were many words that people had used to describe the enigma that was AJ Lee. They would usually range from terrible words such as “psychotic” or “crazy” - words she felt didn’t entirely define her, but they were directed towards her nonetheless. The people who described her as such put her on one extreme of the scale that was her personality; yet, on the other hand, others would use the words “sweet” and “naive” that would set her on the other extreme.

    Either she was childlike, or beyond being understood and it made her two-dimensional.

Surprisingly, at this moment, AJ Lee had never felt so hurt and furious at the same time. She was on the cusp of either side and no one could have anticipated it.

 

 

* * *

 

They weren’t paying attention to her, and she couldn’t even think straight because of how much they _did not care_. Circling the ring, her eyes centered on both men that had hurt her who were now hurting each other - CM Punk and Daniel Bryan.

She didn't have the slightest idea on how else to get their attention. She tried skipping around the ring, hoping that a bouncing girl would catch their eyes; she went onto the mat, staying on the other side of the ropes and watched the match up close in hopes that they would look up and see her, but to no avail. The referee even tried to keep her on the other side so she wouldn’t interrupt the men, and it just made her incredibly frustrated.

As her fingers trailed on the side of the floor of the ring, she allowed her eyes to flicker to the ring post on the left side of her. Suddenly, her mind lit up with an idea as ridiculous as her persona:

She was going to throw herself from the top of the posts.

AJ knew that it would make a huge bang, but was it really good enough for her? Sure, jumping from the ring was dramatic, but was that really all that she could do?The answer came to her mind, swift and succinct: no. That wasn't enough for her. Plus, she was feeling just a bit vindictive towards the two men.

A little clumsily, she made her way to the side of the ring and shuffled out one of the tables stored beneath it. She could hear the commentators’ words buzzing around her like flies around food, but she ignored them as best as she could; she had to stay focused on the task at hand.

She would be lying to herself if she said that she wasn’t afraid. Afraid that her plan wouldn’t work, or something would happen before she could accomplish it, but most of all, she was afraid that they were beyond caring for her that she would fall and they wouldn’t even bat an eyelash. Shaking her head, she finished setting the table onto the ground and slowly crawled around and onto the ropes. She could hear the crowd and the commentators losing control over the fact that she had decided to throw herself from the tallest ropes onto a table, and no one was stopping her.

           _Good_ , she thought. _I need them to look at what I’m about to do and get here too late_.

Later she would admit that her train of thought was extremely sadistic, but at that moment it didn’t matter to her. Daniel was pushing her away, and she couldn’t help but still have a place in her heart for him, and Punk was completely ignoring her which hurt even more.

    Her brows furrowed and her mouth trembled in fear as she looked down at the table, feeling her knees buckling at the thought of jumping. Just as she began to climb to the topmost rope, Daniel appeared in front of her, still sweaty and bruised from the match she had interrupted. He held both hands in front of him as if he could catch her if she fell or jumped.

“Don’t jump, AJ! Please, don’t jump,” He shouted, his low tenor still being able to ring out over the crowd. She could feel his blue eyes trying to focus on hers, but she refused to give him the satisfaction.

She could feel her eyes shimmering, wanting to yell at him to get away. Why was it that now when she had put herself in danger, he had the slightest notion to care for her? He had done nothing but berate her actions, and even though she would still care for him, she wouldn’t listen to him now.

“AJ, I’m telling you don’t jump! Come down, AJ.” Daniel was now pleading and he wanted to get closer to her, but was afraid that any sudden movement would prompt her to jump. He could feel his heart skipping in sheer terror.

AJ didn’t reply, her eyes still entirely focused on the table and her own thoughts. Since she was concentrating on herself, she didn’t notice when CM Punk quickly made his way from the mat over to her on the other side of the ropes. His hand grasped her forearm, squeezing it in hopes that she would center herself on him.

She hadn’t looked him in the eyes for weeks because he always seemed to avoid her gaze. Over time, she thought he was disgusted with her - that for some unexplainable reason he could not look at her without feeling repulsed by her very presence, and it made her sick with unease. AJ tried to remain cheerful but when he couldn’t even look at her, it became extremely difficult.

But now, looking into his eyes that never failed to remind her of moss on a warm log, she could feel herself forgiving him and hating herself. This man could never hurt her; his eyes creased with worry, the pads of his thumbs pressing gently onto her arm could never hate her, but she wouldn’t blame him if he did.

The minute he saw Bryan slip out of the ring with shouts of telling her not to jump, CM Punk had tried to gather himself up and stop her from whatever the hell she was about to do, but the kick he had received earlier was still moving throughout his body. He had attempted to shift over to the other side to try and see what was going on, and he had found his eyes wandering up from the mat, to the ropes that were cradling AJ’s feet, all the way to her face - he could see the determination and fear in her eyes and he didn’t doubt for one minute that she would jump if no one physically stopped her.

Gritting his teeth, he jumped up from where he was and dashed over to where she stood, pensive about something that he couldn’t decipher. He knew that he caught her off guard when her eyes lit up in surprise - a huge difference from how murky they looked earlier - and her brown ones searched his. Her eyebrows were knitted together in confusion and hurt, and he blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“AJ, what the hell are you doing?” He whispered anxiously.

She couldn’t formulate a proper response and just stared at him, trying to figure out why he was here now, even though he had shown her nothing but indifference for the past few weeks. Any kind of reason for his presence AJ could quickly think of was immediately shut down by the self loathing part of herself:

_Maybe he cares_ \-- if he really did, he would've shown it a long time ago.

_Does he really love me_ \-- he's denied her time and time again.

_Maybe now it's different_ \-- guys don't have the capability to be different. To change.

Her doe eyes were incredibly downcast, and Punk had to fight the urge to caress her cheek on national television. For some reason, seeing her sad made him incredibly protective. Like some sort of knight in shining armor.

"What's going on? AJ, is there anything I can do to help? This isn't the way solve your problems," Punk said in a low voice. He knew that speaking to her right now would be a monologue, since she seemed beyond any sort of response. But that didn't stop him from wanting to talk to her; to reach out to her.

AJ's hand twitched on the pole.

"Please, talk to me! Don't hurt yourself. If you do, I could never forgive myself - "

Before he could finish his train of thought, AJ's hand grasped the back of his neck and she pulled him in for a kiss. It looked aggressive, but there was a certain tenderness between her lip glossed mouth and his rough lips that left Punk reeling. He could smell her on him - wildflowers.

When she pulled back, her internal switch went off again as her mouth curved into a smile. With as much force as she could manage, AJ pushed CM Punk off of the ropes, onto Daniel Bryan, and through the table she had set up. The smug look on her face as she chanted 'yes' made it look as if that was her plan all along, but she knew better. She knew herself more than anyone else.

When she finished her chanting, the crowd mirroring her yelling enthusiastically, she leapt off of the ropes and began to skip away. Sparing a glance to the two distressed men, she allowed a flicker of guilt pass over her face before she quickly hid it. She had to keep up her façade.

Once she was backstage, she quickly walked to her dressing room and clasped her face in between her hands. She refused to look at anyone whose eyes would inevitably be staring at the girl that had just driven two men through a table, their eyes a mixture of respect, fear, and disgust. AJ also didn’t want to think about what was going through their heads, what kind of judgements they had specifically towards her, so she simply kept her head down. She didn’t want to think about anything.

When she shut the door, she let out a huge sigh of frustration and leaned her forehead against the door. It felt incredible to force them to feel the same pain that she had suffered from them, or at least, as physical as she could get them to feel it. But she couldn’t help but also sense a terrible churning in her stomach. As if what she had done would have consequences that she wouldn’t be able to handle. AJ already had enough to deal with; the unpredictability of her mood swings, her own rivalry with the Bella Twins, the WWE breathing down her back - she wasn’t sure how much more she could take.

Looking up and straight ahead at the door she was leaning against, she thought back to how she became the “crazy chick” everyone seemed to admire. It wasn’t that she became a person who’s switch could flicker on and off because she wanted to. Or rather, it happened because her mind wanted to protect her when her heart couldn’t.

Mechanically, AJ sat on one of the couches, her eyes looking ahead without really seeing anything.


	2. Think Like A Straight-Edge

_Fuck_ , he really hurt all over.

CM Punk couldn’t recall any other time when his arms, legs, and back ached like a goddamn old man besides right now. His match with Bryan had already taken some energy out of him, and being thrown onto a table didn’t help any. And by AJ of all people! He should’ve watched his back like he always did with this girl. The spitfire, the crazy chick that everyone went insane for, including Bryan at one point in time; one always had to watch themselves around her. But it was like he completely forgot about it.

That didn’t change the fact that his back hurt like hell.

He almost contemplated just staying on the ground, but then he would still be on top of Bryan, and that was the last place he wanted to be at right now. Besides, there would be another match, regardless if he wanted to move or not. And he didn’t want to take any chances of having a wrestler being thrown on top of him and make his back hurt ten times worse.

When he heard AJ’s music fade away, he began to shift himself away from Daniel Bryan into a standing position and walk away from the mess that had happened not moments ago. How does someone walk away from something like that, with their pride still intact? How could one walk out of that ring with injuries that were caused by a mere table slam and limp out of there? Punk couldn’t tell you, even though he did it. Once he crossed that threshold backstage, some of the crew members took ahold of his arms on either side of him and helped Punk to the infirmary they had for minor injuries, not major enough to justify a visit to the hospital.

Behind him, he could hear the frustrated grunts of Daniel Bryan. The short man had a lot of nerve to be whining like a weakling when he knew he had caused this whole mess. Punk made sure Bryan knew that it was his fault when he looked behind him and narrowed his green eyes at Bryan’s blue, his mouth formed into a grimace.

“Wipe that look off your face, Punk,” He seethed, walking to the opposite side of the infirmary in an attempt to stay as far away from the man as possible. When he had settled himself onto the bed, he let out a sigh and threw an arm over his face. Bryan refused to deal with Punk’s antics right now and just needed to relax.

With an eyeroll, CM Punk mirrored the blond’s actions and moved on the other side of the room to similarly stay away from him. It wasn’t Punk’s fault that the guy was a complete idiot when it came to dealing with the challenges life threw at him; he had to deal with the repercussions of it eventually. Punk was just giving him an early taste of it.

Leaning back into the cushions, Punk put his hand against his cheek, rubbing the stubble to focus himself on anything else but the small man that was sitting across from him, visibly seething from his injuries. At this point his mouth was going to run before he could think his words through, but he didn’t care at this point - he was going to let him have it.

“This is all your fault, Bryan,” He said with as much emotion as he could muster, shifting as the nurse was trying to find the spots on his chest, abdomen, and back that hurt the most. Even though Punk had shut his eyes, he could still feel Daniel’s eyes boring holes into his forehead.

“What do you mean ‘it’s my fault’? How is this any of my fault?” Daniel’s right arm was raised as another nurse poked and prodded at him.

“If you hadn’t have been such an asshole towards AJ these past few months, she wouldn’t have thrown us into the table,” He replied in a tone that implied that it was such an obvious thing - how could he not see it? This guy, who was always hyper aware of all of his opponents whenever they stepped into the ring with him, but couldn’t even begin to understand why a girl would be so pissed at him that she would send a guy flying at him was beyond Punk’s understanding.

“Me? Pot calling the kettle black; you’ve been ignoring her for weeks! You’re the one who’s been completely undermining her lately, not me.” Bryan’s features creased even more than they usually did, which just made Punk even more frustrated. How could he think that something like this was _his_ fault?

"I--" He began, already beginning to form an argument in his head, but the words refused to come out.

When he blinked, his mind began to play back some of the interactions he had with AJ over the past few weeks and he knew he was just at fault as Bryan was. Whenever she was proud of something she had done in the ring, or even out of it as a representative of the WWE, he brushed it off each time. Now that he thought about it, if someone had done the same to him, he would have been equally, if not more pissed than she was. It didn't change the fact that he was frustrated at the other man for his similar carelessness, and upset at AJ too for throwing him off the damn ropes.

Shit, that girl was so crazy. But then again, he did say that he dug crazy chicks, and she was no exception.

He had seen her around when she was still dating Bryan at the time, following him around like a lovesick puppy. He didn't pay much attention to her at first; she just paraded along with Bryan whenever he had a match since she was his little cheerleader. And plus, his kind didn’t mix with hers. Punk was brooding, a straight-edged person in this society where drinking and drugs are the norm, and AJ was this plucky girl that just couldn’t be ruthless if her life depended on it. He didn't really think she was that good of a wrestler, either. She just seemed too . . . _nice_. The way she fought against the other Divas in the ring just wasn't as fierce as the other women. He didn't notice her.

Until Daniel broke her heart.

Well, it wasn’t that CM Punk believed that a heart could get broken; sure, one would be messed up if someone they really had a thing for threw the relationship in their face, and the results of it wouldn’t be pretty. But a heart physically _breaking_ wasn’t something that could happen. Regardless, Daniel really screwed the girl over.

Admittedly, he had seen some bad breakups all around him growing up - hell, even now, some of the relationships in the wrestling federation either had people parting on amicable terms, or completely hating each other. When he was with Serena for some time, it didn’t end like he had hoped it would - she threw a chair, but it wasn't as bad as he imagined it would be. The breakup, that is. He'd be the first to admit that relationships sometimes didn't last long, but even that didn't excuse how Bryan dumped AJ. In the end, it made her vicious.

It was after they had broken up that Punk began to notice her in her matches; the way that she had no mercy for her opponent, rookie or veteran, how there was a sort of grace in her finishing moves, and the way that when she lost a match, she got her ass back up and took the defeat as another challenge. She had the fighting spirit he felt that he had in himself, and in some of the wrestlers that accomplished so much fame and glory in their time. That girl was a wildfire, and he sort of swelled with pride. Why? He couldn't really tell you. At least not at the moment.

"Don't forget who it was that screwed up first," Punk said in finality. He still had enough energy to glare daggers at the man across from him, and vice versa. It eventually became so quiet that anyone could hear a pin drop.

For once in his life, Daniel Bryan didn’t reply with biting words. He seemed just as tired as he looked, and arguing with the dark-haired man took more out of him than he had thought it would. This man, who made himself out to be as this invincible person who couldn’t possibly be able to hurt anyone other than his opponent, and that everyone should worship him like some sort of god, had nothing else to say other than to blame Punk for their current predicament. He couldn’t help but hate Bryan for playing such a shitty cop-out, and he didn’t toss out the word ‘hate’ so lightly.

If it wasn’t for the fact that his back hurt like hell, he wouldn’t hesitate in crossing the room and throttling the man. But he knew he would kind of regret it afterwards because the only reason he was feeling so strongly towards Daniel Bryan was because even though he wouldn’t tell it to him, he was right on some points, and it made him angrier. But he held back, deciding that when he would put his hands on him, it would be in a match.

This would mark the day that he would show him no mercy if and when they were in the ring together. **  
**


	3. Whisper To Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter to this little ficlette - please comment and give kudos! It helps a lot more than you think :^))
> 
> Anyway, enjoy this last chapter and be on the lookout for any more fics of these two by me anytime soon !

AJ remembered how her heart soared whenever Daniel looked at her.

His glittering blue eyes that creased whenever he smiled, his smile that always made her mouth turn up in response, and his hands that had rough patches because of the rigour that was demanded in wrestling, but he was always gentle with her whenever he held her. Whenever she supported him at ringside, his red, black, and white color scheme always reminded her of a prince going off into battle, and that’s what he was to her - he was her prince. Daniel emanated strength, and virtue - things that she didn’t think she had. AJ admired him, and soon that admiration turned into something much more.

When Daniel had gotten hurt in one of the matches, she went into the nursing room backstage and stood by him and comforted him however she could. Anyone within a twenty-mile radius could tell that she was utterly lovestruck and to everyone in the WWE, it didn’t come as a surprise. Daniel was known to be polite and pleasant towards any of the women, regardless of who they were, and he went a bit more above and beyond for AJ. When she had gotten hurt, he was right by her on the spot, brushing her hair aside and telling her that everything was going to be okay. His low tenor becoming even lower as he murmured to her was an absolute. They were perfect for each other.

But nothing is ever meant to be perfect.

When Bryan’s hands touched the World Heavyweight Championship, she noticed subtle changes in him. His brilliance became overconfidence. His pride - arrogance. Daniel Bryan became an unstoppable force of nature that didn't care for anyone or anything other than himself, but somehow AJ still stuck by him. She never failed to tell him that she loved him, even when his lips never formed those words in response.

It had become hell on earth when he had lost that championship in eighteen seconds, no less. All she wanted to do was wish him luck with a kiss before the match, but after he lost, he blamed her for his public defeat and retaliated by humiliating AJ in front of the entirety of the WWE universe - she had never felt so unwanted and utterly hated. His words still rang in her ears:

“That kiss you gave me before that match started wasn’t a good luck kiss,” He hissed, his ocean blue eyes stormy with anger. “That was the Kiss of Death.”

AJ’s heart stopped.

“Can’t we talk about this backstage?“ She pleaded, trying to clasp his hand in hers but he kept pulling away. He refused to even touch her.

“You are the worst thing that has ever happened to me, and you’re not going to ruin my life even more. So we’re _not_ going backstage to _talk_ about this, AJ.” If they weren’t in front of thousands upon thousands of people, AJ didn’t doubt that Daniel would have throttled her. He was seething, beyond being reasoned with.

“Wait, are you saying that we’re--”

“Wait, are you saying that - yeah, I’m exactly saying that!” He mimicked her voice in a way that made her flinch; how much more humiliating could he get? “We’re done. Leave,” He concluded, crossing his arms in finality. There weren’t going to be anymore discussions about this. Not now, not ever.

Yet, she couldn't let go of him without a fight. They had already been through so much together that AJ felt that he couldn’t just throw it out on a whim. AJ was sure that if she dug deep enough, those virtues that he clasped onto so desperately would still be there. The same Bryan that she fell head over heels for.

“Daniel, please,” She pleaded. AJ didn’t expect his next reaction to be as violent as it was.

“Leave!” He shouted viciously, his spittle foaming from his mouth making her flinch and take a slight step back. Daniel turned his back to her and crossed his arms, expecting her to be gone before he turned back around. She could feel her heartbeat thrumming behind her ears and it became painful.

But not as painful as the weight of her heart, sinking until it felt as heavy as lead.

AJ bit her lip as to not cry; not in front of all these people. People who were booing at Daniel and gave her pitying eyes wherever she looked. She began to slowly make her way out of the ring and kept her head down. He had utterly humiliated her and she refused for that to be completed with her own tears.

It didn't take long for the other divas to flock to her in an attempt to comfort her. Most prominently, her friend Kaitlyn was patting AJ's arms to reassure her that it wasn't her fault - it was all Daniel's.

"He's trash, AJ. He doesn't deserve you hon," Kaitlyn fretted over her friend, seeing now that her tears were falling freely like rain. She tried to wipe away her smudged makeup but to no avail; the tears kept coming.

AJ's breathing became erratic and her friend's condolences weren't helping in the least. She could feel her shoulders heaving, her lungs expanding and contracting, the blood coursing through her veins, the electric shocks whenever the air or someone brushed against her skin - she became hyper aware of everything. AJ's head began to pound when she could hear everyone talking about her:

_"How pathetic--"_

_"Poor thing--"_

_"Bryan could do so much better--"_

_"She doesn't deserve this--"_

_"How pitiful."_

_"How pitiful."_

**_"How pitiful."_ **

Her breathing stopped.

She smiled.

* * *

 

 

AJ snapped her eyes open, never realizing that she had closed them in the first place. Those memories - they were always painful to recall. She had suppressed them for months, and now she had to do a better job at it. No one could help her cope with it, and she had to do it on her own. It wasn't like it was any different - she's always had to do everything without anyone's help.

What she had done was that whenever anything seemed to drive her to a furious state, that part of her brain would shut down, and she would be happy-go-lucky instead. She had developed a coping mechanism in an extreme state, and everyone thought she was insane for it. Well, what they called crazy, she called survival. And even when Daniel caused her all that pain, she allowed herself to fall in love again - with CM Punk of all people.

A knock on her door jolted her out of her reverie. Shaking her head to dissipate the thoughts, she trudged over to open the door to reveal one of the crew members that worked around the ring. AJ blinked in an attempt to conceal her surprise - what was this person doing knocking on her door? Did something else happen after she left?

"Stephanie told me that I should let you know that both Punk and Bryan had to be sent to the backstage doctors," The small man panted out, his breathing becoming increasingly difficult as he was out of breath. It seemed that the message had been sent not even a few minutes ago.

"Why are you telling me this?" AJ replied, crossing her arms defensively. The guys got what was coming to them. The almighty Stephanie McMahon couldn't even deny that.

The thing with these onstage relationships was that meanwhile the crowd thought they were preplanned, in all actuality they were incredibly real. Every kiss, every gesture in that ring was genuine, and they were only ended when things began to get out of hand and management would think that whatever the WWE managers decided were the best for the company. It was the only way any wrestler moved on and continued onto another arc. Or in this case, another relationship. It was exactly what had happened between Stephanie McMahon, Kurt Angle, and Triple H, but that's another story for another day.

    "She thought you'd like to visit them," He said with a sheepish grin, walking away without saying anything else.

    AJ's brows furrowed in confusion as she held the door open, her hands clasping the edge of the doorframe. Why would she want to visit them? _How_ could she go visit them? She definitely couldn't face them after what she had done to them. But they didn't deserve her pity after what they had done to her. Daniel certainly didn't.

Even though she wanted to say Punk for sure didn't deserve any visit from her, there was a catching in her throat and an ache in her chest that made AJ feel contrary to it. CM Punk still held her in the palm of her hand, even though he shouldn't have been able to.

"Goddamnit," She softly cried out, pressing her hands to her eyes in frustration. Stephanie knew her way too well; she wasn't going to let them slide. They had wanted to protect her and now she had to respond.

Shutting the door behind her with more force than necessary, AJ began to make her way to the rooms backstage that they had reserved as nursing rooms when the injuries were a little more serious, but not serious enough to warrant a visit to the hospital. It was in one of the available rooms that she found both CM Punk and Daniel Bryan sitting in separate beds across from each other, refusing to look at each other and glaring at each other when their eyes met. Looking around the room, AJ was extremely grateful that there was a sliding wall that could separate the room if one wanted to. Taking a step inside the room, she saw that both men immediately noticed her presence and she drew slightly back in nervousness - they were definitely not going to make this easy for her.

When she met Daniel's eyes first, AJ saw those glittering blue eyes that she didn't realize that she had missed. He looked at her at first with surprise, but then that shifted into forgiveness. Somehow, this man couldn't blame her for what she had done and AJ could feel her distrust rising and encasing her like a thick wall. Something wasn't right in the way that he was looking at her, but she didn't know exactly what.

Her brown eyes moved from him to Punk, and she couldn't help it when her eyes lit up. This man may have sometimes ignored her for weeks whenever she tried to impress him, but he never failed to protect her whenever Kane or Daniel seemed to pose a threat to her. Whereas Daniel was her prince, Punk was her knight. He may not have had the shining armor, but his actions made up for it ten times over.

She couldn’t look at Daniel as she made her decision of who she was going to, pressing the button that opened up the wall between the two men. The quiet thump of her shoes as she made her way to Punk’s bedside echoed softly as she sat down next to him, never meeting his eyes until the wall was completely shut. Once AJ heard the click, she looked up at him and saw that no matter how hard he tried to hide it or shrug it off, he was hurt. She felt her eyebrows crease in worry.

“Does anything hurt?” She murmured, completely misreading why there was that flash of emotion he was trying so desperately to hide. AJ may have considered him her soulmate, but she couldn't understand why there was a damn barrier between them. Sure, she threw him into a table, but that didn't mean -

Oh, wait.

AJ felt like an idiot for not seeing it sooner. Of course he was going to be pissed that she pushed him onto the table as if he was some sort of straight-edge ragdoll; anybody in his position would be. But why was it that she felt that there was more beyond the surface? CM Punk was the toughest person she had ever met, and he rarely - if ever - displayed any violent outbursts of emotion when he knew how to keep calm in almost any situation. Yet here he was, flashes of pain skirting behind his eyes.

"Of course something hurts, AJ. You threw me through a damn table." His tone sounded serious, but she didn't miss the way his mouth curved into a slight smile. His lip ring glittered under the flourescent lights.

AJ tried to swallow the knot that was forming in her throat by responding to his joke with a small, wavering smile. Tentatively, she reached her hand to put it on top of his, and she felt her confidence increase slightly when he didn’t move his hand. Her caramel eyes flicked from his calloused hands to his eyes - the eyes that drew her in the first time she saw them.

“Punk - “

    “I hope you’re gonna explain this whole thing because I don’t know about Bryan,” He pointed with his thumb at the figure on the other side of the foldable wall. “But I kind of have an idea; I still need to hear your side, though. To be fair,” Punk added, when he noticed AJ’s eyebrows raise at his already-forming theories.

“I was pissed - extremely pissed - when I pushed you. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but right now . . . not so much.” AJ let out a nervous laugh, but her eyes reflected how upset she was. Looking at Phil and seeing the bruises and scratches that he sported because of her, it made her regret her actions a little bit. Just a little.

“And why is that, AJ?” He asked, a slight glint in his eyes. Either she was reading too much into it, or he wasn’t as hurt as he was letting on.

Punk’s mouth curved into a small grin as he waited for her to answer his question. He wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of replying until she gave him what he was asking for.

For some reason, that made her anger flare up. If he already knew why she pushed him, why was he taunting her with questions that he knew the answer to? Why did he constantly want to invalidate who she was and what she felt - as if Punk knew every bit of her without even telling him? Yet, she still wanted to care for him because of those words that he murmured before he stumbled onto the table: _I could never forgive myself_.

“Because - you’re messing me up, you know that? You ignore me whenever I try to impress you, but the moment I hurt you, you play with me like--like some kind of cat and mouse game. And I still feel bad for you. CM Punk, you’re an ass!” AJ was absolutely fuming once she finished her tirade, feeling a modest amount of smugness at the way his narrowed, provoking eyes widened in surprise.

As she was getting up to leave him in her fury, intent on never setting eyes on him _ever again_ , she felt his hand clasp her wrist. She looked down at her hand, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion, and then looking up at those damned green eyes of his. She saw that for the first time, CM Punk was at a loss for words.

His mouth opened and closed with thoughts that he wanted to express to her, but he just couldn’t. Punk wasn’t sure what he could tell her that would make her stay by him - that he had a microscopic fear that if AJ left him here now, that they wouldn’t be able to banter like they were able to do so easily before. That he really did pay attention to her - he saw the way there was a sinew and grace in the way she slammed her opponents onto the mat, and how even when it looked like she was going to lose, she powered through like a champ. That he couldn’t help but smile when she smiled up at him, the curves of her mouth seeming to go from ear to ear when she just looked at him. Punk wasn’t sure he wanted to give any of that up. But he had to keep his cool, because that was just how he was - you didn’t tell a girl that you liked her because then that made him seem . . . lame. And he was anything but.

But he couldn’t do that shit now, or else this girl was going to walk out on him, and never look back. And he didn’t doubt that she would.

“AJ, please,” Punk said, his eyes searching hers. He wasn’t sure how to explain to her everything that was darting around in his mind - he wasn’t really good at being sincere when it came to relationships. Punk was a master at being a flirt, having a girl swooning over him with the routine he would pull on them, but he never _actually_ had feelings towards someone. At least, not until he met AJ.

But damnit, he couldn’t tell her that! He was too fucking tongue-tied and it was frustrating.

Reluctantly, she sat back down in her seat and waited for him to explain himself. She told him everything that she was feeling, so it was only fair if he did the same for her. AJ wasn’t sure if she’d be able to get that out of him, since he was a man of very few words, particularly towards her. She still waited for him to speak, nonetheless.

As Punk began to shift in his scratchy, bumpy, nursing bed, he flinched when he pressed down on one of his bruises. AJ noticed his wince and she quickly moved closer to his bedside to try and help him.

“What hurts?” She breathed, trying to adjust the pillow behind his back.

Punk looked up to see that she was astonishingly close to him and that he could breathe in the smell of wildflowers that never failed to come off of her in waves. It was so enticing that he forgot her question. Entirely.

He reached up, his hand cupping her cheek. AJ’s eyes flashed from the pillow to his face, her lashes fluttering on her cheeks as she blinked. She wasn’t sure what he was doing, and her mouth formed into a small ‘o’.

Before he could think over what he was going to do, he closed the distance between their mouths, his lips gently brushing against hers. It was different from the kiss before that left him reeling. This one left him even more dazed, but with an explosion of stars behind his closed eyelids.

AJ was surprised at first, but with a tremulous feeling in her stomach, she responded whole-heartedly and tried to get as close to him as physically possible. Her hand grasped his neck, but before she could deepen the kiss, he beat her to it. It was an exciting feeling. She could taste peppermint on his tongue.

When they parted for air, CM Punk finally responded to her question with an unsteady, “Nothing.”

AJ smiled genuinely at his weak disposition; did her kisses really have that effect on him? She was tempted to test it out, but she didn’t want him to pass out since he was already unsteady as it was. AJ decided to hold out on her hypothesis - for now.

“You stubborn man,” She laughed, pressing her forehead against his. She was rewarded with one of his rare dazzling smiles that left _her_ dazed.

“Does this mean that I’m not an ass?” Punk moved his hand so his fingers were brushing AJ’s, but he didn’t make the movement to clasp their hands together. He waited until she did.

“No, you’re still an ass, but you can be a sweet ass when you want to.” AJ rolled her eyes at how ridiculous she sounded, but she was one-hundred percent honest with her words. This man wouldn’t change when it came to misreading the feelings of people around him, but when he knew that he screwed up, he really did try his best to fix it.

“Yeah, sure. _I’m_ the ass, but you’re the one that pushed me from the top ropes onto a table, and now I’m here, remember?” CM Punk gestured to his injuries with a mock look of disbelief. AJ then realized that he wasn’t that hurt - of course he would be used to injuries that were a bit more severe, and what he was sporting now was the equivalent to a couple of scratches. What a mean asshole, making her think he was super hurt.

“At least take responsibility for how you got here, dork,” She replied easily, smiling at the way his eyes were lighting up at their banter.

AJ may have soared whenever Daniel looked at her, like a child with a balloon, but Punk kept her on the ground - much like a flower in soil. She would be able to keep growing with his help, and she brightened up his life, just a little.

Her hand was incredibly warm when it was pressed against his. And she loved it. **  
**


End file.
